How (and Why) to Set Up Meta Muse Desktop

Download Muse for Mac from Meta’s official page. Open the installer, drag Muse.app into Applications, and launch it. Sign in or create an account using the options the app offers.

The desktop app lets Muse work with files, apps, and browser tabs on your Mac. You can ask it to look through project notes or find a document without uploading everything yourself. We recommend starting small and deciding what it can access as you go. Meta’s Muse overview explains the desktop features.

Go through the entry wizard and review each permission carefully. The first screen asks for two things:

• Screen Recording lets Muse take screenshots and see what is on your screen.
• Accessibility lets it click, type, and use apps on your computer.

If you do not want Muse looking at or clicking around your Mac yet, click Skip. You can come back to these permissions later.

Pro tip: For the extra-paranoid, make a second macOS user account for Muse and leave Messages and sensitive accounts signed out there. This keeps those accounts out of that profile. You still need to check its permissions; a second account does not guarantee isolation.

Next, review Full Disk Access and the local apps, including Mail, Messages, and Notes. We recommend setting most access to read-only. If you do not want Muse reading your texts, turn off Messages. Read-only still allows reading, and Muse says it can access data on disk from apps outside this list too.

If you give it disk access, create a playground folder for Muse with files you are comfortable sharing. Start your tasks there. Check Settings > File system access for the controls your version offers; a playground folder alone does not limit Full Disk Access.

Finish the remaining wizard screens, including dictation if you want it. You can leave its shortcut off if it conflicts with how you already use your Mac.

### Click Through the Sidebar

Click through the sidebar so you know where everything is:

• Chat holds your conversation, with side chats for separate tasks.
• Search helps you find things in Muse.
• Feed contains updates; a new account may still need to generate its first feed.
• Ideas suggests workflows and tasks to try.
• Goals gives Muse context about what you want to accomplish.
• Library collects documents, artifacts, and media you have sent or received.

Then open the menu at the bottom left and choose Settings. Review Computer use, File system access, Permissions, and Devices to understand what the desktop app can reach. Data controls includes the option to turn off “Help improve our AI models.”

In Settings, open Connectors and add apps you actually use. We started with Gmail and Google Calendar, then connected Google Slides and Notion.

Click Connect beside a service and read its authorization screen. For Gmail, we chose view-only message access. For Calendar, we chose “see and download” rather than permission to change or delete events. Google Slides requested broader Google Drive permissions, including editing and deleting files, so check the scope rather than assuming every connector is read-only.

You can leave Wallet and Secure store unconfigured while you explore. These add payment services or credentials that Muse can use; neither is needed for a first file-summary task.

If a new connection is not available to Muse, try quitting the app with Command-Q and reopening it. We restarted after adding integrations.

Start with lower levels of access until you trust Muse with the task. Reading your email is different from sending a reply, and viewing a file is different from deleting it. Use Ask when you want Muse to check with you first, or Deny for actions you do not need.

For example, open Settings > Connectors > Notion to see its individual controls. Muse showed Allow, Ask, and Deny choices for actions such as uploading files and creating or editing content.

Now try a task that would be useful to you. Here is one example to try if you want to sell a monitor:

I want to sell my computer monitor. Check local marketplace listings every day for similar HP monitors and log them to a spreadsheet so I can learn to build the best listing.

Replace HP with your monitor’s brand and model. Review the first results and check that the listings are local, current, and comparable. Open the spreadsheet to confirm the entries were saved. Before relying on a daily check, confirm Muse has set it up and review any requested browser, connector, or file access.

For a smaller first test, use your playground folder:

Read the files in [playground folder] and summarize the key points in this chat. Do not create, edit, delete, send, or publish anything. Tell me which files you used.

In our test, we asked Muse to read local project notes and suggest ten AI guide ideas in chat. We then asked it to save the ideas in Notion and approved the write. Muse reported success, and we opened a Notion record in the database. Check each saved item in the destination app before relying on the full batch.

Use the activity panel to see the task and recent actions. If Muse needs more access, decide whether that request fits the task before you approve it.